Christopher Monckton is No Lord - Get Used to It

planetwatch

Jul 21, 2011

His officious, bumptious, arrogant demeanor makes Christopher Monckton one of the most easily recognizable climate cranks in the industry (and perhaps, in a sad, unintentional sort of way, one of the most humorous). Currently on tour in Australia demonstrating his non-scientist scientific prowess on climate, Monckton reminded ABC Sydney's Adam Spencer that it's Lord Christopher Monckton to the likes of you and me. When pressed by Spencer if he was really a Member of the House of Lords in the UK, Moncton testily replied:

"Yes, but without the right to sit or vote … [The Lords] have not yet repealed by act of parliament the letters patent creating the peerage and until they do I am a member of the house, as my passport records. It says I am the Right Honourable Viscount Monckton of Brenchley. So get used to it."

Yes, m'Lord, whatever you say - and have been saying ad nauseum for years. Yawn.

Surely the House of Lords will welcome you with open arms as one of their own, then, right?

"You are not and have never been a member of the House of Lords. Your assertion that you are a member, but without the right to sit or vote, is a contradiction in terms."

Well, okay, but Monckton's former role as science advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher meant he was a key figure in the Iron Lady's climate policy, right? Well, that's what he says. He appears to be the only one (that was there at the time) saying it.

What we can confirm is that Monckton has a penchant for invoking Hitler and Fascism on his opponents. Like calling young, idealistic climate activists at the COP15 climate conference "Hitler Youth." His recent tour has been marred by cancellations after he called Ross Garnaut a fascist.

Even without his Hitler-baiting rhetoric, academics in Australia called for the the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle to cancel Monckton's scheduled lecture because Monckton "stands for the kind of ignorance and superstition that universities have a duty to counter."

"Lord Monckton propounds widely discredited fictions about climate change and misrepresents the research of countless scientists. With zero peer-reviewed publications, he has declared that the scientific enterprise is invalid and that climate science is fraudulent … Over the last month there has been a great deal of coverage in the Australian media of the death threats and abusive emails that have targeted Australian scientists working on climate change. These threats are fuelled by misinformation spread by figures like Lord Monckton and the distorted coverage that they receive in the Australian media. As academics, we expect our universities to support us against this kind of abuse. We expect our universities to foster academic standards of conduct and argument.

We all support academic freedom and the freedom to express our ideas and beliefs … [However] Notre Dame's invitation to Lord Monckton makes a mockery of academic standards and the pursuit of evidence-based knowledge."

So Monckton is no climate scientists and not a Lord, despite his claims to the contrary. There's likely a lot more where that came from. Get used to it.